Friday, February 28, 2014

HER LAST ASSASSIN - Victoria Lamb

Today we welcome Victoria Lamb to our blog to talkabout the last in her Lucy Morgan trilogy.

Her Last Assassin is the final book in my
‘Lucy Morgan, Shakespeare’s Mistress’ trilogy, and is published this week in
hardback and ebook. This was my first-ever fiction series, and it’s been a
steep learning curve from contract to publication of Book Three. So I thought
I’d describe how it was commissioned and developed.

Back in spring 2010, I produced a detailed
synopsis and the first 25,000 words of The
Queen’s Secret, a Tudor Court novel with thriller elements. My agent sent
it to Selina Walker at Transworld, who was interested enough to suggest changes.
I continued to work on The Queen’s Secret
for the next six months, then we formally submitted the finished manuscript to
Transworld along with synopses for the next two books.

On November 17th 2010, I headed
to the RNA Winter Party in London with a group of glam writer friends. During
our pre-party drinks, my mobile rang. It was my agent, telling me Transworld
had made an offer for the trilogy. I was over the moon, and blurted out my good
news to everyone. I was going to be a Transworld author! And it was my birthday
too, by happy coincidence.

His
Dark Lady was the second book. At nearly 150,000
words with four narrative characters – Lucy Morgan, William Shakespeare,
Elizabeth I, and my fictional spy Master Goodluck – it is the most complex
piece of fiction I have ever tackled. The action of The Queen’s Secret takes place over nineteen days: His Dark Lady spans nine years. One
story strand follows the Babington Plot against Elizabeth I, and ends with the
execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, implicated in that conspiracy. Another deals
with Shakespeare’s rise in the theatre, and the disgrace of his mother’s
kinsmen, the Ardens. The plotting alone – working out fiendishly complicated character
arcs and timelines - took weeks.

So we come to Her Last Assassin, the third and final book in my Lucy Morgan
Trilogy. During the course of this novel, my heroine Lucy Morgan faces her
greatest challenge, Shakespeare embarks on a love affair which could lead to
his death, Queen Elizabeth comes under threat from a secret assassin within her
own household, and spy Master Goodluck is forced to confront his shadowy past
when his world begins to crumble. And the one who pulls all these strands
together is Lucy.

Writing a trilogy is a difficult challenge,
not least in terms of maintaining continuity and narrative tension from book to
book. But I find it more liberating than writing a stand-alone novel. You can return
to lost threads or answer a question in a later book, and build your world and
its characters slowly and deeply, adding layers in each volume.

Now I’ve tasted trilogy writing, I’d love
to write an even longer series. Meanwhile my Tudor trilogy comes to its
conclusion with Her Last Assassin – rather
a sad thought, but it will be exciting to start a new project!

Photo by Barbara Alderton: from left to right,
Cal Andrews, Victoria Lamb and Jenny Barden at the RNA Winter Party 2010, the
night Victoria 'got the call'

No comments:

Subscribe Now: Feed Icon

Loves Me Loves Me Not

Romantic Novelists' Association

We work to enhance and promote the various types of romantic and historical fiction, to encourage good writing in all its many varieties, to learn more about our craft and help readers enjoy it.

Romantic Fiction covers an enormous range, from short stories through category romance and much of women's fiction, to the classics. The nature of romantic fiction means that most of these novels are written and read by women. The RNA, however, boasts a number of very successful male authors amongst their membership.